On draft weekend, I criticized the selection of Brantley, wondering why the Browns would willingly involve themselves with a player with any connection to this kind of situation, whether proven or not.

"If Brantley punched her, he can't be a Brown. There should be no confusion about that," I wrote, and the Browns made basically the same point, Sashi Brown saying, "facts may turn up that prevent us from being able to keep him on our roster."

Again, that's football talk. If you risk a sixth-rounder on a guy who may wash out because he doesn't work hard enough or because his skills don't translate from college to the NFL, that's part of the business. That's completely different than an accusation of hitting a woman.

So the Browns said from the start they would get rid of Brantley if they found evidence that he really did that. Brantley vehemently denied the accusation. The Florida State Attorney's office, realizing the publicity involved, seemed to go out of its way to explain its thinking and why exactly the complaint was dismissed.

It looks like none of those parties -- the Browns, the player or those involved with the case -- did anything wrong.

That needs to be said, based on the known facts.

But here's what I believe is OK -- overreacting to anything regarding football and the mistreatment of women. On draft day, there were questions about Brantley because of the complaint. Situations like that deserve serious scrutiny, and Sashi Brown deserved every question he received about why the Browns did what they did. Brown, to his credit, answered those questions.

So now we go by what the state attorney decided. We trust and hope the complaint was taken seriously and investigated thoroughly. We hope the woman involved believes she was treated fairly. We hope Brantley believes he was treated fairly. We hope every NFL team takes any accusation of violence toward women seriously. We also acknowledge, without questioning the decisions in this case, that the law doesn't always serve women in matters like these.

In this case, it's back to football. Maybe Brantley will prove to be a steal for the Browns. Maybe he'll wash out and it'll be a sixth-round pick that didn't work. In some way, the idea of the Browns gaining an advantage because other teams chose to stay away from Brantley doesn't quite sit right. Should a woman alleging she was hit really factor into a team getting better?